Graduation

9/11/07 R graduated today! When I walked into NICU I thought they had played musical babies again and asked which bay mine was in. Still Bay 3; but where was her incubator? Oh my! Shes in a bassinet now! Yippee Yi-O! She has not needed any breathing assistance from the start. We could not hold her the first 24 hours because she had to be in a Bahamas environment to keep her temperature up. But they have been able to lower the isolet temp a degree every day until now shes out! Sabbath they took the IV needle out. Today they removed the feeding tube from her nose and we started experimenting with breastfeeding. Contrary to the average baby, she has not once dipped below her birthweight. They weigh her every night and she has demonstrated a steady upward trend. She gained another 40g in the last 24 hours so now she is 4 lbs and 12 ozs! Shell be almost grown out of premie clothes by the time she comes home. The doctor said today she is doing exceptionally well and may be ready for homecoming by the end of this week or early next! All we pretty much are working on now is getting the breastfeeding going. As long as everything else continues stable and improving, the exit is coming into view! Good thing because this morning I had a vivid dream that GR and I stole our baby out of NICU and ran away with her, successfully reaching the American side before the Russians caught up with us (WWII setting!). All is well that ends well. This morning I woke up singing this hymn:
Lead on, O King eternal, the day of march has come; Henceforth in fields of conquest Thy tents shall be our home. Through days of separation Thy grace has bade us strong; And now, O King eternal, we lift our battle song. Lead on, O King eternal, till sins fierce war shall cease, And holiness shall whisper the sweet amen of peace. For not with swords loud clashing, nor roll of stirring drums; With deeds of love and mercy the heavenly kingdom comes. Lead on, O King eternal, we follow, not with fears, For gladness breaks like morning whereer Thy face appears. Thy cross is lifted oer us, we journey in its light; The crown awaits the conquest; lead on, O God of might.